Happy New Year to everyone from the Walker Tracker team! As the old year ends and the new begins, many of us are thinking of what we hope the New Year will bring. It’s a time of renewal, wonder, joy, and self-reflection.
It’s a long-standing tradition/association to try to better your New Year through committing to a resolution or two, to remind and encourage us to better our lives throughout the upcoming year. Some of us here at Walker Tracker HQ really love to kick off the new year by setting personal goals or making resolutions.
Here’s what we had in common:
- Make smaller resolutions throughout the year in order to avoid a large and perhaps unsustainable resolution.
- Try to strike a better work/life balance
- Our most successful goals involved equal parts: accountability, forgiveness, and setting the goal up for success
Read on for goals and resolutions from some of our Walker Tracker team:
David
David set 2 resolutions this year: to eat less sugar & eat cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli and kale) at least 3x week. David said, “I’m (specifically making a habit of) looking at labels and trying to eliminate all extra sugar.”
When asked about his most successful goal he responded, “I successfully integrated walking in to my life; this was accomplished by getting a dog, Bella, who is in my face every morning at 5:45am.”
Ellen
Ellen prefers to take her goals one day/week at a time. “I am working on taking it day by day and setting small goals that work me towards a greater goal or help to prepare me for what is to come.”
Ellen’s most successful goals have been smaller and more specific in nature: “(if you) stick to a budget of $40/week spending money for the month of January you are setting yourself up for a win. If you can stick to that for 4 weeks, you not only accomplished a goal of yours but you saved some money and then you can give yourself permission to extend your goal into the next month or change it up if it didn’t work.”
Ellen would like to visit Europe for her friend’s graduation from Oxford and the Mediterranean with her husband this Fall.
Blanca
Blanca also prefers “mini resolutions”. “I choose something I know I can do and is actually useful to my own or others’ lives…setting milestone dates or action times really helps me stick to my goal.” Blanca specifically has had a goal of journaling before bed for reflection and gratitude.
Blanca’s most successful resolution ended up incorporating her entire family. In a previous year, Blanca wanted to be more active outdoors during the Winter. It became a family tradition to go cross-country skiing at the start of the New Year.
Blanca would like to travel to Eastern Oregon, in particular: Snake River canyon, the town of Joseph (where artisans meet ranchers) and Fort Rock, “…which is this amazing rock formation created by a raised ice age lake bed.”
Taylor
Taylor hopes to focus on the single word: balance, to help her achieve better balance for her health, wellness, and happiness. She specifically cited an unhealthy habit she’d like to try to tackle in 2017: “checking my work email first thing when I wake up and last thing before I go to bed.” She has now an enforced rule of, “no work/screen time 1 hour before bed & no work email (until she’s been) awake for at least 30 minutes.”
Taylor has found that “should” has been a detriment to successful resolutions. When she feels that she “should” be doing something that, “really made everything in life a lot less enjoyable.” So her most successful resolution is giving up “shoulds” in her life.
She’d like to visit Brazil, Panama, or Indonesia and just can’t decide which. Have you been to any of them? Help her choose by commenting below!
Stephanie
Stephanie chose to give up her car for the New Year, and to ensure this was successful, she drove her car to her parent’s house and left without it! She decided to do this because, “Walking more and using public transportation is not only good for the planet but a great way to get to know my new city.” (as Stephanie recently moved here to Portland, OR)
Her most successful goal involved sending out greeting cards to family members, and buying a huge stack of cards at the start of the year really helped her maintain this throughout the entire year.
She’d like to be able to go to New York City this year.
Kristina
Kristina would like to focus on slowing down in 2017 as she feels like she’s, “always running from one thing to the next.” She’s going to try meditation to help with maintaining a less hurried lifestyle.
She has found that making a big list of resolutions at the beginning of the year hasn’t been the most helpful. She feels that picking one thing to focus on is more helpful.
Kristina wants to visit (perhaps due to the chilly weather here) somewhere warm, like Hawaii and in specific, Kauai. She would also like to visit the beach and do some snorkeling.
Torrence
Torrence has specific continual resolutions, “to become a better ally to people of color and to eat more vegetables.”
Torrence loves to visit the woods and in worldly travels, wants to go to Iceland.
Abby
I too wish to strike a better work life/balance as a “perma-goal”.
If you’ve set your own goals, feel free to comment below: What are your goals & and what has helped you stick with them? We look forward to helping you with your wellness goals in 2017!